It’s a well-known fact that home buyers don’t particularly like walking into an empty house. They, of course, need to imagine themselves living there and that is hard to do if the home has nothing in it. That’s where home staging comes into play. If done correctly, home staging has the potential to slash the time your home sits on the market and boost your profit. However, it’s also possible for home staging to go wrong, so check out these tips to keep your home staging on point and sell your home fast!
Over-Designing
Like we mentioned before, home staging is there to help buyers visualize themselves living in your home. The trick is to be subtle and not slam buyers with a design after design right when they walk in the door. Think of the house as the star and the home staging as the backup singer. Keep it simple with furnishings along with some decor and textiles to add softness. Be sure not to cover every square inch of your house with stuff.
Too Fake
Making a home feel lived in without actually being lived in is tricky. However, if your home stager suggests a nice bowl of fake fruit or anything inflatable, run in the other direction. Fake plants, fake flowers, fake food, fake TV screens and computers and blow-up mattresses are the epitome of home staging gone wrong. Keep it real and lose the artificial bananas.
Staging to Scale
The goal of any home stager is to create the illusion of more space and to do that you may assume you should use smaller lightweight items. However, that tactic can actually dwarf a home; instead, make sure your furniture and accessories match the room scale and proportion. For example, if you have a massive family room with cathedral ceilings, don’t go for the small, low-backed sofa and tiny coffee table. Buyers should be able to walk into a space and feel like there is enough room for their family to grow and entertaining. If the furniture is too small, the whole space will scream to the buyer that there is not enough room in this house.
One Aesthetic
Even if you are selling a restored Victorian, buyers may not want to see oil lamps and fainting couches in every room. Buyers are trying to envision themselves, along with everything they own, in this space. To help them get there, feel free to showcase eclectic furniture that proves, to buyers, mismatched furniture will also go great in the house. If you’re in doubt, always go for traditional pieces like light-colored sofas, tables with clean lines, and timeless decor pieces.
Open the Door
This tip may seem obvious, but people are creatures of habit so be sure that all the interior door in the house are open. Having a buyer be able to move through the house without thinking is hugely important. Buyers have missed entire floors or rooms to a house simply because the door was closed, and they thought the door was to a closet.
Too Neutral
There is nothing wrong with a classic color scheme, but if you keep everything ivory and beige, it won’t make your house stand out from the pack. Don’t go crazy with the color, but your home should have a bit of unique appeal. A pop of color here and there, and one or two rooms that don’t look like every other room in the house, is a great idea. After a potential buyer has seen 10 houses, your home will be easier to remember.
